Why didn’t John Terry take PR advice? #PR #publicrelations #mufc

Posted by jameswdcrawford on January 30, 2010 under PR | Be the First to Comment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxvrRggOQjo

(gratuitous opportunity to show Moscow penalty miss)

The John Terry super injunction story is more proof that celebrities or organisations should turn to PR professionals and not lawyers when dealing with a media crisis. Only public relations professionals have the tools to ensure that a story such as this one can be kept under control.

A super injunction can work, sure. However there is no plan B.

Once the injunction is made public, what was a negative story is amplified tenfold. The whole affair seems more sordid. He is now on the front of five national newspapers. This is a massive fail, nearly on the same proportions of his penalty miss in Moscow (Viva John Terry – bit of Man Utd gloating there…).

Of course PR isn’t 100 per cent fool proof, far from it, but media relations would have been a better strategy, rather than litigation. John’s PR consultant could have negotiated and traded other content, tried to kill the story and prove it to be incorrect, or managed the story, so the coverage was minimised.

Most people wouldn’t be that surprised about John Terry behaving this way, so really taken on its own the story of a footballer trying to impregnate someone is fish and chip paper. We’ve already seen him urinating in bars, fighting and taking cash in hand payments from journalists for tours of the Chelsea training ground. So really this story is not that newsworthy. John has made it newsworthy, thanks to his legal advice.

Ralph Lauren – the story continues

Posted by jameswdcrawford on October 14, 2009 under PR | 2 Comments to Read

If you have read my blog recently you will have seen that I have been following the Ralph Lauren PR ‘crisis.’ See previous posts:

http://jameswdcrawford.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/ralph-laurens-pr-argument-is-a-little-thin/

and:

http://jameswdcrawford.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/ralph-lauren-post-an-update/

Now it seems that things are going from bad to worse, with Boing Boing reporting that the model in question has been sacked:

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/14/ralph-lauren-fires-p.html

On the face of things the latest state of affairs seems like a PR crisis.  But is it?  Do fashionistas TRULY care about the size issue?  After all Karl Lagerfeld has recently said, “Only fat, potato chip-eating moms hate thin models”.  And there hasn’t really been much outrage in the conventional media either.

Unconsciously do Ralph Lauren customers, and fashion lovers in general I hasten to add, feel thinner when they purchase the brand’s clothes because, “if they fit into a nice designer outfit then they must be as thin as a model”?

This is a far too complicated an idea to get my head around, but I can see it working as an unspoken machination of the fashion industry.  It’s a dangerous line to tread though.

Panorama vs Ryanair

Posted by jameswdcrawford on October 12, 2009 under PR | 2 Comments to Read

An eye opening insight into Ryanair’s approach to Media Relations. (see link below)

Panorama.pdf

 The problem faced by Ryanair is that the company behaves like a challenger brand despite being the market leader.  That’s just plain arrogant. 

In this email exchange it looks like Ryanair have gone the distance toe to toe with Panorama.  I’m saving my judgment until everyone has had time to view the programme…  What will be the post-broadcast fall out?